Canadian PM halts Parliment amid row

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Page last updated at 22:50 GMT, Thursday, 4 December 2008
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Canada halts parliament amid row



Stephen Harper: "On my advice, the Governor-General has agreed to prorogue Parliament"


Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has won a bid to suspend parliament, blocking an opposition attempt to topple his minority government.
The governor general agreed to Mr Harper's request, unprecedented in the country, after talks.
If the request had been rejected, he would have had to step down or face a confidence vote he was sure to lose.
Opposition parties had called the vote for Monday, accusing the government of failing to shore up the economy.
Governor General Michaelle Jean agreed to prorogue - or suspend - parliament until 26 January when the government is set to present its economic plan.
Ms Jean - the representative of head of state Queen Elizabeth II - has the right to make a final decision on such matters.
"Today's decision will give us an opportunity - I'm talking about all the parties - to focus on the economy and work together," Mr Harper said after the two-and-a-half-hour private meeting.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gifhttp://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45265000/jpg/_45265986_dionafp226b.jpg
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif For the first time in the history of Canada the prime minister is running away from the parliament of Canada http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif


Stephane Dion
Liberal leader

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/inline_dashed_line.gif

Bitter week in politics (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7766332.stm)

The Conservatives immediately shut down parliament, ending all debate.
The head of the main Liberal opposition party, Stephane Dion, said he was still committed to bringing down Mr Harper's government unless he makes a "monumental change" in dealing with the economy and other parties.
"For the first time in the history of Canada the prime minister is running away from the parliament of Canada," Mr Dion was quoted as saying by AP news agency.
Opposition New Democrat leader Jack Layton called it a sad day.
"He's trying to lock the door of parliament so that the elected people cannot speak," Mr Layton said. "He's trying to save his job."
Political drama
A prime minister's request to temporarily suspend parliament had never been turned down, but nor had such a request been made when the government was certain to lose a confidence vote.
"There is no precedent whatsoever in Canada and probably in the Commonwealth," constitutional expert Ned Franks told AP news agency. "We are in uncharted territory."
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gifhttp://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif At a time like this, a coalition with separatists cannot help Canada http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif


Stephen Harper
Canadian Prime Minister


The prime minister's manoeuvre comes at the end of a week of unprecedented political drama, says the BBC's Lee Carter in Toronto.
The constitutional crisis was triggered last week after the Conservatives presented a fiscal update that was angrily rejected by the opposition parties for not including an economic stimulus package and for proposing cuts to the public financing of political parties.
The Liberals and New Democrats signed a deal to defeat Mr Harper in a confidence vote scheduled for Monday and to form a coalition government.
Mr Harper's Conservatives won a strengthened minority in the 14 October election but are outnumbered in parliament by the combination of the Liberal Party, the New Democratic Party and the Bloc Quebecois.
'Backroom deal'
In a televised appeal on Wednesday, Mr Harper said the opposition pact was a threat to the country's democracy and economy.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45269000/jpg/_45269623_fac3bcb4-6eab-4876-891d-2be534f552a0.jpg Acting head of state Michaelle Jean makes final decisions on such matters


"At a time like this, a coalition with separatists cannot help Canada," he said, referring to the Bloc's desire for independence for Quebec.
"Tonight, I pledge to you that Canada's government will use every legal means at our disposal to protect our democracy, to protect our economy and to protect Canada."
Mr Harper called the opposition parties' power-sharing agreement a "backroom deal". Ms Jean cut short a trip to Europe on Wednesday and flew back to Ottawa in an effort to deal with the growing political crisis after the three opposition parties formally advised her of their plan. Ms Jean's other options were to have called a general election if the confidence vote went ahead and Mr Harper lost, or to have asked the opposition to form a new government.

[Invisigoth]

I don't get it. Clearly the debate about the economic plan is at the basis of the argument being made for ousting the government, but how does it have any relevance in the legal question of whether the current minority government can be recalled and replaced by a majority opposition coalition? How can it be used as an argument for closing parliament to prevent, what seems to be, a legitimate democratic process?

Shutting down the parliament to avoid an, apparently perfectly legal, no-confidence vote? Seems shoddy. Clearly there are some ulterior motives in the opposition coalition, but since when do motives trump law?

Canadians are whack. Might be time to bring Canada into the Union? p-)

[Dling]

There wasn't any law trumping. The GG ultimately has the say in the end. Could have gone any other way.

[ex Strathcona]

I don't get it. Clearly the debate about the economic plan is at the basis of the argument being made for ousting the government, but how does it have any relevance in the legal question of whether the current minority government can be recalled and replaced by a majority opposition coalition? How can it be used as an argument for closing parliament to prevent, what seems to be, a legitimate democratic process?

Shutting down the parliament to avoid an, apparently perfectly legal, no-confidence vote? Seems shoddy. Clearly there are some ulterior motives in the opposition coalition, but since when do motives trump law?

Canadians are whack. Might be time to bring Canada into the Union? p-)

i can see why your confused, lots of countries have coalition governments so you might think it is a natural part of the process.

but not here. Canadians are used to voting for "a" party, and having "a" party that receives the most votes form the government.
when people vote for a Liberal they do so because they think the Liberals are the best option, not the Liberals and who ever else they can team up with because the other parties have very different political views and they don't get along well most of the time. to us it feels like we are becoming a banana republic

on top of that we are feeling a little burned out on elections, and the government that has been elected has not even been allowed to submit the budget for the new year and already they are being accused of not doing enough, most people see though this and believe it is nothing but a power grab and that also ticks us off.

to add insult to injury, people, most people, view the leader of the coalition as a very poor choice as PM.

people are pissed off and just want the government to function as it was elected, and for the parties to stop ****ing around trying to grab power and work together on the economic issue.

[Invisigoth]

There wasn't any law trumping. The GG ultimately has the say in the end. Could have gone any other way.

But wouldn't that make the GG the quasi ruler of Canada? I.e. GG delegates task to form government to certain party, GG can decide to suspend parliament and prevent no confidence votes against that party.

GG could thus legally have some minority party of her/his preference and protect them in office? (obviously this is theory since he/she would be recalled due to public outrage, but still fun to ponder)

Weird to have a system that allows for coalition building and is still controlled by minority governments.

This is like a soap opera p-)

[Dling]

But wouldn't that make the GG the quasi ruler of Canada? I.e. GG delegates task to form government to certain party, GG can decide to suspend parliament and prevent no confidence votes against that party.

GG could thus legally have some minority party of her/his preference and protect them in office? (obviously this is theory since he/she would be recalled due to public outrage, but still fun to ponder)

Weird to have a system that allows for coalition building and is still controlled by minority governments.

This is like a soap opera p-)

In all honesty, I can't argue with you there since all I understand about the role of the GG is that she's essentially the queens rep in canada and that in this situ she had the say in what happens. I'm just saying that it could have gone any other way: the suspension, acceptance of a coalition or another election. I'm sure Clayton or Ex Strat can probably explain it a lot better than me.

And yes this has turned into a giant soap opera. The coalition seems like its gonna tear itself apart at any moment now. :)

[boone]

The GG's scope of authority boils down to scheduling elections, and over seeing electoral process as well as some "Figurehead" type ****.
She had very limited options: Either let the non-confidence vote go ahead and recognize the coalition, Or call "Time out" to let everyone regain their heads.
I think she made the right choice.

[delio]

But wouldn't that make the GG the quasi ruler of Canada?


No, it'd make the Queen of England the quasi ruler of Canada. The GG is supordinate to the Queen of England. I must say I'm not and expert on the Canadian political structure, but I think the Queen of England appoints the GG, who serves at Her Majesty's pleasure - at her sole discretion, and can therefore be fired by the Queen of England at any time.


GG could thus legally have some minority party of her/his preference and protect them in office? (obviously this is theory since he/she would be recalled due to public outrage, but still fun to ponder)

By costum, neither the Queen nor the GG exercise power. But the Canadian Constitution seems to give them considerable power. In fact, it seems they can even fire the sitting Prime Minister.

[len173]

The GG actually has a ton of authority. It's very symbolic and she doesn't do much other than host dinner parties. However, her power comes into play rarely in situations like this. When all our politicians are acting like kids and nobody seems to be in charge, she is there holding the ultimate power to say, this is what's gonna happen.

There is nothing shoddy about prorogue. It's just as legal as this coalition. It's simply giving a month for cooler heads to prevail. The overwhelming majority of citizens are pissed and scared about this coalition and this allows them time to be heard.

[delio]

............

[Rubes]

It will also give the government time to make a budget, to be tabled on Jan. 27th, instead of fending off powergrabs from this new 'coalition'.

[LineDoggie]

Wasnt this threatened earlier this year as well? I could swear I remember reading about this type of Action in September, early October timeframe.

[redhawk_six]

Wasnt this threatened earlier this year as well? I could swear I remember reading about this type of Action in September, early October timeframe.

The NDP suggested a coalition during the elections, but at that time it was flatly ruled out as never going to happen by the Liberals, who were being perdicted by some to win a minority themselves. Funny how peoples minds change when the election results don't turn out as they planned.

[MichaelF]

She had very limited options: Either let the non-confidence vote go ahead and recognize the coalition, Or call "Time out" to let everyone regain their heads.

She could have also let the no-confidence vote proceed, then called another Election. Especially given the governing mandate of the Tory Minority (increased seats in the recent Election and having the Throne Speech accepted).

That said, proroguing the Parliament was the "best" option.

[delio]

Here're Mr. Harper and Mr. Dions adresses to the nation. ..couldn't find the French version.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHGnJKZKuow

[Steaks]

Dion's address was embarrassing...looked as if it was shot on a cellphone.
Yes, everything here is legal, the coalition, the proroguing, I just worry about the country dividing any further. The West/East thing is not good for the country

[redhawk_six]

Dion shares our frustration over the political crisis that's preventing us from addressing the economy? He's the one creating the crisis!

His response seems like it was just thrown togeather. He stumbled over his words more then once, and it looks like he had one of his staffers record it on their cell phone. He had to sell his coalition in that video, he failed. If anything, it drives home the point that he is not PM material.

[Bombtrack]

The Sun's cover made me laugh today.

http://storage.canoe.ca/v1/dynamic_resize/?src=http://www.torontosun.com/cover/2008/12/05/torsuncover1252008.jpg&size=640x480&quality=60

[Dling]

The Sun's cover made me laugh today.

http://storage.canoe.ca/v1/dynamic_resize/?src=http://www.torontosun.com/cover/2008/12/05/torsuncover1252008.jpg&size=640x480&quality=60

lol sums up the situation pretty well.